"By the time of Jesus... There were three parties among the Jews. The Sadducees were willing to collaborate with the occupying power, the Zealots fomented rebellion, and the Pharisees would neither fraternize nor rebel but kept the law and waited for vindication at the hands of God. "

"ZEALOTS: a JEWISH SECT founded by Judas of Galilee to resist the Roman annexation of Judaea. After their initial revolt was crushed, they resorted to guerilla warfare against the Romans and those they saw a collaborators. They were finally destroyed after the Jewish revolt of 66 A.D. "

"A fourth option, and a very political one, was the path of guerrilla resistance aimed at ousting the Romans from Palestine... The guerrilla party (the Zealots) apparently scored enough successes to irritate and ultimately infuriate the Romans, but they had taken on too mighty an adversary. When the Romans, who had little taste for insubordination, put their attention to it, they utterly crushed the Zealot movement. Jerusalem was besieged, the Temple and Qumran were destroyed... "

"Zealots: Jewish freedom-fighters in the War against Rome (66-73 CE. Josephus in The Jewish War refers to the Zealots together with other rebels against the Roman occupation. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 9:6) refers to the Zealots as Kannaim, a Hebrew word with the same connotation, and generally in the Rabbinic literature an ambivalent attitude emerges towards these rebels. Modern scholarship discusses at length the relationship between the Zealots, the Sicaii ('dagger men'), other rebels against Rome, and the Qumran sectarians, a question much discussed nowadays. In later Jewish literature, the term Kannaim is applied to zealots of every description who use questionable means in their fights against those they consider to be enemies of God or the Jewish religion. Jacob Emden, for example, was proud to call himself kannai ben kannai ('a zealot son of a zealot') in his struggle against the followers of Shabbetai Zevi. "

Zealots

Israel

-

-

-

-

135 C.E.

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally published as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 821.

"Zealots. Usually identified with the Jewish freedom fighters who led the first war against Rome in A.D. 67-68... The Zealots more or less disappeared with the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) an Masada (A.D. 73), only to reappear in the messianic followes of Bar Kochba in A.D. 132-35. "

"Haifa is the world center of the Baha'i faith. The Baha'is believe that some day there will be one religion... Israel has accepted the Baha'is' freedom to worship. In Haifa, the Baha'is have built a shrine with a golden dome over the grave of their founder... "

"About 1.9 million Arabs live within the bordres of Israel. About 92% of them are Sunni Muslims, while the other 8% are Christian. But that minority is shrinking all the time--victims of harassment and persecution by the Muslim majority. "

"About 1.9 million Arabs live within the bordres of Israel. About 92% of them are Sunni Muslims, while the other 8% are Christian. But that minority is shrinking all the time--victims of harassment and persecution by the Muslim majority. "

"About 1.9 million Arabs live within the bordres of Israel. About 92% of them are Sunni Muslims, while the other 8% are Christian. But that minority is shrinking all the time--victims of harassment and persecution by the Muslim majority. "

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 328.

"Hospitalers (Christian). The Knights Hospitalers of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, known after 1310 as the Knights of Rhodes and after 1530 as the Knights of Malta. Originally founded at Jerusalem (ca. 1070) to care for those on pilgramages or crusades, the order became militarized and, with the Knights Templars, furnished the Kingdom of Jerusalem with a permanent armed force. "

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982), pg. 125.

"About twenty Karaite families live in Jerusalem today. Their synagogue, supposedly nine hundred years old... was destroyed in the 1948 battle for Jerusalem... restored synagogue was dedicated in 1978. "

Mashhadi Jews

Israel: Jerusalem

-

-

2units

-

1982

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982), pg. 76.

"One of their communities was founded for not economic, but religios reasons: Jerusalem's... They built two synagogues in the Bukharan Quarter which are still in use today, and their own cemetary on the Mount of Olives. "

Mashhadi Jews

Israel: Jerusalem

-

-

2units

-

1982

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982), pg. 80.

"Most Israeli Mashhadis live in or near Tel Aviv... In addition to the two old synagogues in Jerusalem, they now have four in Tel Aviv and one each in the nearby cities of Herzliya and B'nei Brak. "

"Most of Israel's citizens are Jews, but 15% of them are non-Jews, and that includes Muslims, Christians, Samaritans, Druze and Baha'i. Jerusalem, of course, is a very important religious centre for Christians and Muslims as well as Jews, and the city contains many churches and mosques as well as synagogues. "

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 647.

"Samaritans. Descendants of the original inhabitants of biblical Samaria, estroyed in 722 B.C., who claim to be a remnant of the northern tribes of Israel. More than half of the few hundred survivors of this grop live in the city of Nablus, close to their sacred mountain, Gerizim, on the West Bank of the Jordan. "

Samaritans

Israel: Nablus

250

-

1unit

-

1982

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982), pg. 99.

"Five hundred Samaritans survive today... About half of them still live in Nablus; the other half live in the Tel Aviv suburb Holon. "

"'Muslims today are 70 percent of the city's residents, and we want to be able to give our population the basic services, schools, hospitals... and mosques that they deserve,' said Muslim leader Ahmed Zuabi, sitting in a corner of the tent as the prayers got under way. 'Look at what the Christians in this city can claim,' added Zuabi, a city council member, gesturing toward the basilica. 'They have dozens of institutions and some 750 acres of land. We, in comparison, have almost nothing.' "

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982), pg. 140.

"there are now Karaites living in nearly every Israeli city. Their largest community is in Ramla, where about 3,000 Karaites make their home. That city has two Karaite synagogues, including the large central synagogue with a community center under construction next door. "

Table: weekly church attendance in various nations. "Source: Based on latest avail. data from... World Values surveys. Results with an asterisk are from the 1990-1991 survey; all others are from 1995-1997 survey. "

"Figures are for BWA affiliated conventions/unions only (no independents included). "; Table with 3 columns: Country, "Churches ", & "Members "; "1997/1998 Totals "; [BWA stats. in individual countries are sum of figures for member bodies of BWA in the countries.]; [County population figures for 1998 from United Nations data available here.]

Buddhism

Italy

23,000

-

-

-

1995

"LDS Prospects in Italy for the Twenty-first Century " in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1996), pg. 153.

Catholic

Italy

-

95.00%

-

-

1929

Keefe, Eugene K., et al. Area Handbook for Italy (1st Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Foreign Area Studies of The American University (1977; research completed 1976), pg. 74.

"Church-state relations were normalized with the negotiation of the Lateran Pacts of 1929... The state desired the tacit support of the church in a country where over 95% of the population professed Catholicism... "

"Catholics continue to be approximately the same proportion of the population in all five countries that they were twenty years ago--nine-tenths in Italy, two-fifths in the BRD [West Germany], a quarter in the United States and Australia, and a tenth in Britain. "

Catholic

Italy

54,320,000

97.00%

-

-

1976

Keefe, Eugene K., et al. Area Handbook for Italy (1st Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Foreign Area Studies of The American University (1977; research completed 1976), pg. 73.

"Religon has always been a prime unifying force among the Italian people. Italy is almost wholley Roman Catholic; according to the Catholic Almanac, 1976 the proportion is as high as 97% of the country's population. "

Catholic

Italy

-

-

29,764units

-

1976

Keefe, Eugene K., et al. Area Handbook for Italy (1st Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Foreign Area Studies of The American University (1977; research completed 1976), pg. 75.

"In 1976 there were 29,764 parishes in Italy. Parish size varied. A rural parish could include as few as 500 people; urban parishes could have as many as 40,000. There were 41,816 diocesan clergy to serve the various clergy. "

Catholic

Italy

54,320,000

97.00%

-

-

1976

Keefe, Eugene K., et al. Area Handbook for Italy (1st Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Foreign Area Studies of The American University (1977; research completed 1976), pg. vii.

"Population: Estimated at about 56 million in January 1976... Religion: Estimated at 97% Roman Catholic. "

"Catholics continue to be approximately the same proportion of the population in all five countries that they were twenty years ago--nine-tenths in Italy, two-fifths in the BRD [West Germany], a quarter in the United States and Australia, and a tenth in Britain. "

"The country in the world with the largest number of Catholics is Brazil... followed by Mexico... the Philippines... the United States, with 58,078 million, and Italy, with 55,916 million. These are some of the figures given in the latest edition of the Church's Statistical Yearbook for 1997... "

"Location: Italy; Population: About 57 million "; "Italy is an overwhelmingly Catholic country: 99% of Italians describe themselves as Roman Catholics, although the extent and nature of religious observance vary widely. It is estimated that only about one-third of Italian Catholics attend mass regularly. "

"The Roman Catholic Church has influence on the lives of the 80% of Italians estimated to be members. Even many Italians allied with the Communist Party send their children to church on Sunday. However, Italians voted against following church teachings on questions such as divorce and abortion. These votes are another signal of the decline in the influence of the church... Despite the weakening influence of Roman Catholicism, for many Italians it remains a valued link to the past and a way of expressing present needs. "

"Location: Italy; Population: About 57 million "; "Italy is an overwhelmingly Catholic country: 99% of Italians describe themselves as Roman Catholics, although the extent and nature of religious observance vary widely. It is estimated that only about one-third of Italian Catholics attend mass regularly. "

"...Cistercians soon reached a position of unrivaled influence in the Church at large. By 1120 they moved into Italy, by 1123 to Germany, by 1128 to England, by 1132 to Spain, and by 1142 to Ireland, Poland, and Hungary. "

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